Queen for a Day

Queen Esther trying to command the waves to recede, just as King Canute did once.

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” shouted Rosa as she flew from bedroom to bedroom waking up everyone. And as the occupants groaned Rosa pulled the curtains aside. She then flew into the living room and opened those curtains as well because the occupant of that room Elizabeth, was asleep on the couch. She groaned the most and tried though unsuccessfully, to pull the quilt back over herself. “Wake up! Wake up!” Rosa continued to shout and Elizabeth who had fallen asleep on the couch after drinking too much the prior evening, had been allowed to stay the night, instead of having an overly eager Jeremy walk her home. They didn’t trust Jeremy to take Elizabeth home without a detour down by the beach and the water’s edge. Jeremy was crestfallen when he was booted out of the house, even though he had unsuccessfully tried to plead his case.

Rosa flew back into her parents’ bedroom where she found they had fallen back to sleep. “Wake up! Wake up!” she shouted as loud as her voice would allow, and Sybil this time turned over on her side and opened one eye and looked at the alarm clock.

“Rosa,” she groaned a little louder, “what’s the matter with you? Its only 6 o’clock and it’s a Sunday. We don’t need to be anywhere today so go back to sleep.”

“No mummy,” Rosa was insistent, “you have to get up early, its Purim and I’m queen for the day.”

“Queen for the day?” asked a surprised Sybil, “what do you mean you’re queen for the day?” “Remember Mummy,” Rosa sounded a little less enthused as she landed on the end of her parents’ bed and looked at her mother. George on the other hand was still fast asleep. He was a deep sleeper, so he hadn’t been involved in any of Rosa’s antics up till then.

“Oh, I remember now,” Sybil let out a sharp laugh and dug her husband in the ribs. “George, George, you created this little monster, now you get up and deal with it.”

At first George who had been rudely woken up, pretended to continue sleeping but eventually the digging in his ribs took a toll. “What is it darling?” he asked as he opened his eyes one by one and blinked. “What time is it?”

“6am,” replied Sybil her head still laying on the pillow.

“6am! So why are we up so early?”

“You tell me,” Sybil nudged him again as George tried to go back to sleep. “Ask your daughter.”

“Where is she?” he asked propping his head up for a second and looking around him. “I don’t see her.”

“There!” Sybil pointed at the end of the bed.

“Oh,” George grinned sheepishly. “Hello Rosa, what are you doing up so early?”

“Well Daddy remember?”

“No I don’t remember,” George had been too blitzed on single malt scotch whiskey the prior evening as both he and Elizabeth tried to outdo each other. “What don’t I remember, darling?” he asked Sybil who was falling back to sleep. A gentle nudge in her ribs changed that. “What is it I don’t remember?” he asked again.

“Everything,” Sybil answered abruptly, “from not taking your clothes off to what you promised our youngest daughter.” Immediately George pulled up the bed clothes and examined his body. He laid back down on the pillow. A splitting headache overwhelmed him. “My best suit too,” he groaned, “and oh yes, I promised Rosa because her Hebrew name is Hadassah that she could be queen today.”

“Exactly!” shouted an excited Rosa, “and if I’m going to be queen for the day, I want the day to last all day from sunrise to sunset.”

“See, see, what you’ve done. You’ve promised yet again something you can't possibly carry out to the only one of our brood who takes you literally. Now you can get up and deal with her.” And with that, she gave George a sudden push and with a loud thump he fell on the bedroom floor.

“Ouch! You didn’t have to be that mean Sybil.”

“Mean?” replied Sybil her voice fading as sleep overpowered her, “that wasn’t mean. What I will do if you don’t take Queen Esther out of our bedroom will be very mean.”

George knew better. After trying straight out his very crumpled Armani suit, a present from a grateful congregant, he asked to be excused and told Rosa to go into the kitchen and wait for him.

“No Daddy, I’m queen for the day. I give the orders. I’m going to wake up Julia and Timmy,” and then grinned evilly, “and make sure Elizabeth gets out of bed.”

“Elizabeth!” shouted George. Sybil groaned and pulled the bedclothes over her head. “What’s Elizabeth doing here?” and then he remembered, “oh you’re right.” George had a panic attack, “where’s Jeremy, he didn’t spend the night, did he?”

“No, Daddy, Mummy kicked him out of the house.”

“Oh dear, I hope he made it home in one piece.” And with that, George looked out of the bathroom window, “oh dear, no he didn’t. He’s laying on the sand outside the front door.” “Should I bring him inside,” asked Rosa.

“No don’t do that. You know your mummy doesn’t like sand everywhere,” and with that he closed the door and Rosa walked slowly into the kitchen to await her father. As she looked out the window at the brightening sky, she imitated her father by stretching her wings and shouted, “hello Africa!” to see if it made a difference to her. But it didn’t.

“What are you shouting for?” Julia had just walked into the kitchen.

“Good morning, Julia, I’m queen for the day.”

“No, you’re not, your still Rosa.”

“No, Daddy said I could be Queen Esther for the day.”

“Oh, in that case,” replied Julia turning around and heading back to her bedroom, “in that case you can make Mummy’s coffee and start breakfast. Call me when that’s done.”

Rosa slumped on the counter and looked out at the window at some seagulls walking eagerly up to the front door where Jeremy lay asleep. Fearing the worst, she flew down from the counter and raced to the front door. She opened it and ran outside. “You leave my people alone!” she shouted to the non-binary seagull she had run into many a time. “He is my family and I will protect him from you.”

At that moment George appeared at the front door and was very impressed with what Rosa had said to the seagull, which had made them fly off. “That’s my Queen Esther,” he said giving his daughter a big hug. “See, that’s what it means to be a queen! Not by waking people up before they need to get up, but by brave acts like that.” Rosa beamed. George stopped. He had a great idea. “You know who makes the best pancakes don’t you?”

Rosa thought for a second, “Elizabeth?” she asked quietly.

“Exactly!” replied George, “now, that you’re a real queen dear daughter, if I were you, I would go into the living room and pull the covers off Elizabeth and tell her you’re Queen Esther and you want pancakes.”

Rosa beamed, “I’ll do that right now Daddy,” and flew back into the nest.

George quietly slipped back into the bedroom and into bed and cuddled up with Sybil. “Good night,” he said giving her a peck on her cheek.

“Where’s Queen Esther?” groaned Sybil her eyes remaining closed.

“Don’t worry darling, Elizabeth is handling the situation perfectly.”